In accordance with the recent developments in IT industry, there has been a remarkable widespread of optical disks which can record a vast amount of multimedia information. Currently, optical disks of various types such as CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM, and the like are used widely and generally on a daily basis. In addition, disk drives or the like for performing writing (recording) and reading-out (reproducing) of information to/from a disk recording face of an optical disk have come into wide use. Furthermore, label printers capable of recording characters, images, symbols, and the like on a face (label recording face) on the opposite side of a disk recording face have also become popular.
There are various types in the label printers, e.g. a type which is formed separately and independently from a recording/reproducing device or a personal computer, such as an optical disk, or a type which is built in the recording/reproducing device or the personal computer. As one of these label printers, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2002-203321 discloses a recording/reproducing device wherein an optical disk is rotated at a constant of rotating number, and an optical pickup is driven to the radius direction of the optical disk by a prescribed amount by every prescribed rotational position. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-203348 discloses a recording/reproducing device wherein a focus control for controlling the position shift between a label recording face of an optical disk and a light beam spot controls light beam diameter in accordance with reflected return light of a light beam which is irradiated onto the label face of the optical disk.
In the optical disk device according to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2002-203321, aged deterioration and the like of an actuator which condenses light on the label recording face of the optical disk causes variation of the light beam position for a prescribed amount of driving signal, etc. Thus, there raises such a problem that the quality of the recording image formed on the label recording face of the optical disk is deteriorated.
In the optical disk device according to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-203348, it is not possible to detect the position shift amount between the label recording face and the light beam when the light reflectivity of the label recording face is extremely deteriorated or there are uneven areas on the label recording face. Therefore, there is a position shift generated between the label recording face and the light beam so that the light beam diameter cannot be controlled, thus causing such a problem that the quality of the recording image on the label recording face is deteriorated.
Moreover, there has been proposed a CLV system as an optical disk device which records a label image on a label recording face, wherein the intensity of light beams irradiated from an optical pickup is controlled to be constant and recording is performed while changing the rotating number of a rotary device of the optical disk. However, address information specifying the irradiation position of the light beam is not recorded on the label recording face. Thus, control of the rotary device becomes unstable. As a result, there raises such a problem that the quality of the recording image formed on the label recording face is deteriorated.
Furthermore, the time required for forming the recording image on the label recording face and the resolution of the image are constant. Thus, there raises such a problem that it cannot meet the demands, that is, to shorten the time required for excellent recording on the label recording face even though the resolution is not good.